Lily’s fingernails flexed, and somehow she found the wherewithal to pull back, once again becoming aware of the whistles and wild catcalls of ‘Who is he?’ and ‘Is that Lord Garrett?’ from the press.
The camera flashes were relentless, and Lily knew that while Tristan’s actions had been motivated purely to help her out of an awkward moment, hers had not.
And wishing it was otherwise wouldn’t make it so.
CHAPTER NINE
‘I ENJOYED the film,’ Tristan said, breaking the heavy silence between them. Lily didn’t look at him but continued to stare out of the window as his chauffeur drove them through the glistening London streets.
It was late, and after two hours of sitting beside Tristan in a darkened movie theatre she felt uptight and edgy. The awareness she had been trying to keep at bay by pretending to read that hateful play for most of the day had exploded the minute his lips had touched hers on the red carpet.
No doubt he’d felt sorry for her after her earlier disclosure, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him to touch her because he wanted to, not out of some misplaced duty to look out for her.
And she didn’t want to make polite small talk with him now. She just wanted to get to the safety of her room and go to bed. To sleep.
In hindsight she should have been more prepared for the intrusive questions of the U.K. press, and probably would have been if worry over her case and the tension between herself and Tristan wasn’t taking up so much head space.
Of course that brief kiss would be headline news in the papers tomorrow. Would be on the internet right now in this era of instantaneous news reports!
She knew she shouldn’t be angry about what he’d done. He’d only been trying to help. But her own response to his sensitivity both now and this morning, when he’d made a Scotland Yard detective wait two hours until she woke from an exhausted sleep, and yesterday when he’d eased her headache while she slept in the car, made it harder for her to keep ignoring her feelings for him.
Especially after his disclosure about his parents and the pain in his voice when he had referred to his mother. The knowledge that he’d been hurt as a child made Lily feel differently towards him. Made her want to soothe him. To find out what had been worse than his mother leaving. Feeling this way about him wasn’t clever. It could only lead to heartache—her own!
She sighed heavily and felt his gaze linger on her. She really didn’t want to have any reason to lessen the animosity between them. Without that it would be far too easy to fall back into her adolescent fantasy that he was her dream man. What she needed to remember was that deep down he was essentially a good person, but any solicitude he extended towards her didn’t automatically cancel out what he really thought of her.
‘No comment, Lily?’
And he was calling her Lily now, instead of Honey. Oh, she really didn’t want him being nice to her.
‘You shouldn’t have done that before,’ she berated him, letting her embarrassment and uncertainty at this whole situation between them take centre stage.
He glanced at her briefly. ‘Tell you I enjoyed your film?’
‘Divert attention away from that reporter on the red carpet by kissing me.’
His direct gaze made her nervous, so she focused on the darkened buildings as the big car sped along Finchley Road.
‘You looked like you needed it,’ he said softly.
‘I didn’t.’ Lily knew she was being argumentative, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. ‘And now your picture—our picture—is going to be splashed all over the papers tomorrow. They’ll think we’re lovers.’
The car pulled up outside his exclusive mansion and he turned to her before opening the door. ‘They’d probably have assumed that anyway given that I accompanied you.’
Bert opened the door and Lily smiled her thanks to him before stalking after Tristan, annoyance at his cavalier attitude radiating through her. ‘Assuming and confirming isn’t the same thing,’ she retorted. Realizing too late what her words implied, she hoped he wouldn’t pick up on it.
Movement further up the street alerted them to a lurking photographer, and Lily allowed Tristan to usher her up the short walkway to the black double front doors that looked as if they shone with boot polish.
He pushed one open and she preceded him into the marble foyer, and then followed him through to the large dining room where he turned to face her.
‘Interesting phrasing. But I’m not sure how I could have confirmed something that’s not true?’ he drawled, a dangerous gleam lighting his eyes.
‘Oh, you know what I mean,’ she said, flustered by the strength of her confusing emotions. ‘I’m tired.’
‘Is that your way of defending your Freudian slip?’
‘It wasn’t…’ She noted his raised eyebrow and swore. ‘Oh, go to hell,’ Lily fired at him, walking ahead of him through to the vast sitting room, dominated by a king-sized sofa that faced plate-glass windows overlooking the city.
‘You know, all this outraged indignation over my attempt to help you before seems a little excessive to me,’ Tristan said from behind her.